On April 1, my daughter Maya went skiing in the Sierra Nevada mountains. She was 19, home on spring break from community college. She went to a resort outside of Truckee with her friends for a day of fun. It was 1992. When she arrived home early that evening, I had...
These days, I watch the world go by from a different window. I mean that literally as well as figuratively. I’ve moved to the west side of Rossmoor, perched on a hillside with a view of Mt. Diablo, a grassy common space dotted with fruit trees, and a giant beech tree...
Like a cup of hot lemon, light in December is pale, almost watery. And there are hours less sun than at summer’s height. The days are grey and pitch black before dinner is even on the table. It can feel bleak. As we reach the apex of darkness at the Winter Solstice,...
I was 43 when my daughter Maya, 19, was declared brain dead after massive head injuries caused by a fall from a horse she was riding bareback. The day before her accident, we learned that she had been accepted by UCLA in its theater arts program. They would provide a...
“Intentions are the soul’s desires coming into physical manifestation.” –Wayne Dyer Every January, I like to reflect on the past twelve months and set intentions for the coming brand new ones, focusing on the qualities I want to manifest more than the things I want to...
In the 22 days from my diagnosis to my surgery, cancer scared the bejesus out of me. I don’t feel especially hostile toward it. I’m more surprised than anything – and, at times even grateful for the wake-up call. On December 17 I was diagnosed with a rare form of...
Mass killings are happening at such an alarming rate that most of us can’t even remember when – or why – the most recent killing spree filled our Twitter feeds or our TV screens. Grieving faces, flowers and candles left on street corners, and empty rhetoric about...
I don't need research studies to prove the healing power of keeping a journal. My journal was my lifeline during the most difficult years of my life. On April 2, 1992 I got the call every mother dreads. My nineteen-year-old daughter Maya had fallen from a horse and...
I joke that I’m a recovering Catholic, but really, Catholicism is not something you get over. From time to time, I find myself in a Catholic church, bathed in incense, surrounded by candles, flowers, and statues of the Virgin Mary. I spent many hours immersed in...
Nancy Mills loves to connect and empower women. A dynamo with seemingly boundless energy, she recently called me before breakfast to be sure that the links I'd submitted for the 2016 Spirited Woman Directory were working properly. Nancy is both a visionary and a...